Improvement in skates



f UNITED STATES 4PATENT FFICE..

THOMAS vAN-wAGoNER, 0F NEWARK, 'NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN SKATES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 46.836. dated Marcli14, 1865.

.To all whom #may concern.: 4

B e it known that I, THOMAS VAN WAGO- NER, of Newark, if1'the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Skates; and I do here'- by declare that the following isa full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use'.

the same, reference being had-to the laccompanyin g drawings, forming part of this specication, in .which- Y p Figure l is an under side view of a skate made according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof.v Fig. 3 is a detail 'ofl the chisel-edge of one of the clamps.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

his invention consists in an improvementl in that class of skates which are secled to. the feet ot' the skater by means of clamps thattake hold vof the soles land heels ot the boots;

the clamps and the'device for operating them being greatly simplified along their-edges,

by my invention.

A is the runner of the skate, andB the bed to which it is attached, and which receives the foot of the skater. The bed B sinks, as at Bf, to receive the heel of the boot, forming a shoulder, e, across the bed, against which the innerjedge of the heel rests as against a stop. The runner of the skate is connected to the bed by means of brackets b, four in number in this example, and which are placed so that two of them are oppositefto each other on opposite sides of the heel of the skate and of the ball,

respectively. The brackets are secured to the runnerl and to the under side of the bed. by means f screws, and their faces where they are joined to the bed are cut down, so asvto form slots a, where they join'the bed. G and D are clampsof like shape, 'each having arms c c d d at their ends `extending backward and outward at thesame angle, and passingthrough -the slots a, beyond which they are turned up at a right angle, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Their highest points are bent inward, as seen l at i, and sharpened to a chiseLedge in order that they may take hold ot' the heel and sole, as aforesaid, when they are drawn' against 'them by operating the screw f. fis a thumbscrew, which passes transversely through the sides of the clamps C D at a point about in the middle of their length, the clamp D vbeing threads of the screwf engage.- g isa stop formed on the screw j' at such'a point as to come in contact with the inner face ot' the clamp C, so that the screw will be kept from ing smooth from its head to thestop g, and the hole through the clamp C having smooth .up against the outer face ofthe clamp D, pref vents the backward rotation of-thescrew.

1t .is cle.l From the above description that the clamp D acts as a nut to the screwj, the rotation of the latter to the right orthe left causing the clamp D to travel backward or forward upon the screw, by which means the distance` between thevclamp is diminished or increased. Since the angular arms c c of the clamp C and d d of the clamp D are each free to move in their slots a, and since those arms which lie opposite to each other severally describe the'sa-me angle with the sides ofthe clamps; respectively, it follows that they will move equal distances through their slots in equal times, when the screw j' is rotated, and

toward or recede from each other in like manner.

1 claim as new and desire to secure by vLetters Patent- 4 The combination of the screw g and nut h with the bars() D, arms c c d d, slots a a, and `claws z' i t', constructed as described, and em-y ployed for securingthe skate at the front and heel simultaneously, as explained.

THOMAS VAN WAGONER. Witnesses.:

WM. T. MCNAMARA, C. L. Torn-IFF.

tapped with a screw-thread with which the moving forward in the clamp C, the screwv bey sides. h is atightening-n ut placed on the end of the screw, and which, when it is broughtthe clamps will thereby be made to advancel l 

